The government has a plan to reach welfare to the poor without wasting money. It wants to put hard cash in their hands instead of spending on welfare programmes. To begin with, it wants to end the public distribution system of food grain and give money directly to the people. Its logic: the new system of cash transfer will plug leakages and save an enormous amount of money. But is it...

Twelve Gram Panchayats from seven states have been selected for the Award under the Scheme of Awards for Best Performing Gram Panchayats for the year 2009-10. These are Khairwahi (Dondi Block) and Machandur (Durg Block) from Durg District of Chhattisgarh; Kalauna (Dadwali Block) from Sirsa Disstrict of Haryana; Nedumkandam (Nedumkandam Block) from Idduki and Kottukal (Athiyannoor Block) from Thiruvanthapuram districts of Kerala; Pandurna (Mukhed Block) from Nanded district of Maharashtra;...

A recent newspaper report noted that the Union Government had gazetted the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 2011 and received strong criticism from organisations that work for protecting coastal ecosystems and fight for the rights and welfare of fisherfolk. About 20 organisations working in the field of protecting fishermen's rights and lawyers backing them have taken strong exception to the notification. This is on the ground that the new notification,...

The 32-member gang has been involved in 15 cases Move to invoke Act comes after killing of Nashik Additional Collector The police have booked a 32-member sand mafia from Nevasa taluk under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). This is the first time the Act has been invoked against a sand mafia in the State, Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police Krishna Prakash told The Hindu. The mafia, led by the absconding Anna...

Incidence of 'vulnerable employment' is highest in South ASIa, including India, with 580 million people in the region falling under the category, says the annual Global Employment Trends report of the International Labour Organisation. People in the vulnerable employment category in the region are saddled with low wages and little social protection, said the report. In fact, the whole of ASIa Pacific region had a comparatively higher level of vulnerable employment...